poor service delivery

Tshepo Mmusi
Jouberton Location
Matlosana municipality
North West province
02 November 2021

In the previous weeks we saw how politicians having moving from one house to next canvassing for votes. Every street corner there would be gatherings of different political parties and groups rallying support for local government elections. Members of our communities have been given royal treatments by being given food, vouchers, being collected with any means of transport to attend rallies and meetings. They have been promised heaven and earth by politicians. In the last five years we saw many communities protesting against their own municipalities demanding service delivery. This is something that is due to them, and municipalities are obliged by their mandate to deliver on that.

The same people who have been demonstrating demanding those services, were the ones going to the polls yesterday casting their votes to put the political parties of their choices in power for the next five years. I only hope that they have voted using their heads not what they think might happen differently this time around.
The reality is that our municipalities are mostly under administration and they are not delivering on their mandate. Our roads are full of potholes, our sewer systems are always overflowing, our refuse is not taken out timeously and our environment is filthy. These are the things we see everyday and they are strong evidence of how non functional our municipalities are.
Members of the communities are hungry for leaders who will put them first, and those who do not enter offices to advance their own aspirations. We have heard and witnessed too much political in-fights that can last us our life time. It is time for action, and the leadership that is to come will require civil society to remind them of their calling and their obligation to our societies.